to a regiment of ten companies was fourteen, allowing little more than colonel, staff, and one officer to each company, of about thirty-two men. The medical department was fully organized in accordance with the Letterman plan. IMPEDIMENTA. Three years of war had also taught the leaders of this army that baggage and supplies are what Cæsar called them, impedimenta, a necessary evil to be reduced to the lowest terms. Sherman himself had no hazy ideas on the subject. He believed that tents were a luxury, for camp use only, not to be carried into the field. Before beginning the Atlanta Campaign he issued General Order No. 7 which, among other things, directs: "In no event will tents be carried, or chests, or boxes, or trunks." "Wagons must be reserved for ammunition, cooking utensils, and rations.” Officers could only take such baggage as they could carry on their persons or on led horses, and were to subsist on the same rations as the men. In a letter to Quartermaster General Meigs, Sherman wrote, "I prefer no tents at all for marching troops, * Soldiering, as we have been for the past two years, with such trains and impediments, has been a farce." He had but one wagon for the entire headquarters of the army at that time. Sherman's idea of transportation for an army could hardly be improved on. It was, roughly, as follows: 1. Ammunition wagons, to carry required number of rounds. 2. Supply wagons, with twenty days' ration of hard bread, sugar, coffee, salt, and a little bacon. 3. Beef, on the hoof. 4. Supply wagons to haul a small grain ration for the animals. An army with trains of this size could march freely. It may have been overdone in some small particulars. One of the chief surgeons complained that all cooking utensils were left behind save only coffee pots, frying pans, and camp kettles, thereby injuring the digestion of the men. I fear he would have difficulty in procuring witnesses to this alleged fact from the State of Georgia. The train that left Atlanta actually consisted of 2,500 wagons and 600 ambulances. There was no army train; each corps marched on a separate road with its own trains, and was in fact a complete army in itself, except for cavalry. Each corps train consisted of 600 wagons at the beginning, and grew longer as the march progressed. The train, including ambulances, was from four to five miles long. About 20% of the wagons carried ammunition; the balance rations and a little forage. The average number of horses and mules in the whole army was 30,000. Each gun and caisson had eight horses, each wagon six mules, and each ambulance two horses. The average load for a six-mule wagon was 2,500 pounds. All the animals were in very poor condition at the beginning of the march, but grew better and better as the time passed. The rations carried on the wagons at the beginning of the march were about as follows: Twenty days' hard bread. Forty days' beef on the hoof. The army started with 3,476 cattle and reached Savannah with more than 10,000, being thirty-four days between supply depots. These items make up the essentials of a ration, excepting fresh vegetables, which were gathered freely from the country, sweet potatoes being the most important component. Corn, wheat, and later rice were gathered in large quantities; mills along the route were taken possession of and run night and day to furnish flour and meal. General Sherman's order read, "The army will forage freely," and it was done much more freely than he intended. Hardly a day of the march was without its reiterated order to restrain irregular looting, but the very regularity of these orders shows that they were ineffective. Yet all this destruction was striking down the Confederacy, and sweet potatoes and turkeys, even mules, are cheaper than blood. MEDICAL EQUIPMENT. Now as to medical equipment. Judging by the difficulty experienced today in securing transportation for medical organi zations, and by General Sherman's forcible expressions on the subject of baggage, what do you suppose would be allowed by him in the way of medical equipment? The natural impression would be very little. As a matter of fact General Sherman's army carried about as heavy a medical equipment as our late San Antonio army. When the army left Chattanooga in the Spring each division (about 6,000 men) had a field hospital carried on six wagons. For this campaign the number of wagons was reduced to three, with one medicine wagon. This was done chiefly by cutting out the tents, taking only the tent flies. I shall enumerate the medical equipment of a sample division; the First Division, Twentieth Army Corps. This division had a much smaller equipment than the average of the army. The division consisted of three brigades, fifteen regiments, and at the beginning of the march numbered 5,289 men. The entire train consisted of 177 wagons, of which 38 carried ammunition. The division hospital was carried in three army wagons and one medicine wagon. The hospital had sixteen tent flies-no tents. The wagons carried a thirty days' supply of the most necessary medical articles. Each regiment had a pack mule for its medical supplies. The ambulance corps was completely organized in accordance with the Letterman regulation. The division corps was commanded by a captain, with a lieutenant for each of the three brigades; these officers being detailed from the line to the Quartermaster Department for this purpose. There were thirty two-horse ambulances, one for each 193 men. The ambulance corps numbered about one hundred men. The ambulances carried 200 pounds each of hard bread and meat extracts for the hospital, and these things proved very useful. As there was an excess of ambulances at the beginning of the march there is no reason why some of them should not have been loaded with supplies at the beginning, knowing that the supplies would be gradually used as the ambulances became needed. On the basis of this division one of our modern divisions would have 14 wagons and 100 ambulances, instead of 62 wagons and 48 ambulances, as at present. I believe that a happy medium. of 24 wagons and 60 ambulances would be better than either. During the latter part of the march three additional wagons were attached to each field hospital for the purpose of carrying the arms and equipment of "light duty" men. The division medical transportation was then measurably greater than at present. The ambulances seem to have been kept together in one train with the field hospital, but one ambulance followed each regiment. A medical officer and a hospital steward accompanied the ambulance train on the march. The chief surgeon reported that the sick were plentifully supplied by the hospital men foraging. Carriages were taken from the country for the use of the wounded when necessary. As to tent flies and light equipment, it is to be remembered that the climate of southern Georgia is temperate even in winter. It proved to be fine during nearly the whole of the march, with little rain, and just cool enough to be healthful. No hardships were experienced from lack of tentage or other medical supplies usually carried with armies. The troops reached Savannah in such excellent condition that General Grant was moved to express his gratification on at last seeing an army that could on finishing one campaign immediately begin another, without first recuperating for several months. THE MARCH. Next to fighting, marching is perhaps the most important function of armies. The manner of accomplishing a great march is always instructive as well as interesting. It may be said in the beginning that this march was hindered by no extraordinary obstacles. The difficulties were chiefly three-moving the trains, destroying railways, and gathering supplies. Together they reduced the rate of march to ten or twelve miles per day. But for these distractions, along with road making and bridge building, it seems that the army could easily have marched twenty miles per day. The order of march prescribed for the Fifteenth Corps. at the beginning of the march was as follows: ADVANCE GUARD. Second Brigade, less one regiment. One battery, without caissons, wagons, or forges. One regiment as support to the battery. Pioneers, with tool wagon. Regimental wagons and ambulances of these organizations. |